The Presence of God

Q: What does the Bible say about the presence of God?

The Bible emphasizes that God's presence is crucial for salvation, joy, and glory. The presence of God is vividly portrayed in Scripture as essential to the life of His people. In Isaiah 64:1-3, the prophet expresses a deep longing for God's presence, recognizing that it brings deliverance and salvation. God’s presence was pivotal in Israel’s history, distinguishing them from all other nations, as seen through various accounts from Abraham to Moses. Filamentally, without God's presence, worship, prayer, and even the experience of grace become hollow, emphasizing its vital role in the lives of believers.

Q: How do we know God's presence is important for Christians?

God's presence is foundational for the church's hope and strength, as illustrated throughout biblical history. The importance of God’s presence is consistently highlighted throughout the Bible. For instance, Moses recognized that Israel could not move forward without God's presence (Exodus 33:15). The same principle applies to Christians today; our only hope in this world and the next lies in the presence of God. As believers, we rejoice that God has come down in Christ, making His presence available to us. This underscores our need for His manifestation in worship, prayer, and daily living, marking everything we do as necessary and impactful only because He is present with us.

Q: Why is the presence of God essential for worship?

Without God's presence, worship lacks meaning and becomes empty rituals. The presence of God is what gives worship its life and meaning. Isaiah's prayer reflects the heart of every genuine worshipper: 'O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down...' (Isaiah 64:1). Worship without His presence is akin to beating the air—an exercise in futility. It is God's manifest presence that transforms our songs and prayers into heartfelt communication with the Divine. Therefore, approaching God with the expectation of His presence is critical; it ensures that our gatherings are sanctuaries where He meets with His people, filling our worship with understanding, power, and purpose.

Q: How does God's presence impact our lives?

God's presence instills security, joy, and influence over our challenges. The impact of God's presence in our lives is profound and multifaceted. Throughout Scripture, we see how the presence of God brings security in the face of adversities (Psalm 9:3), joy through deliverance, and the assurance of being loved (Psalm 31:20). Just as God was with Israel in their trials and victories, He is with believers today, shaping our experiences and providing divine surprises that reaffirm our faith. His presence assures us of our salvation and continually invites us to a deeper relationship with Him, empowering us in our mission every day.

Q: Why do we feel surprised by God's presence?

Believers often underestimate God's power and ability, leading to surprise when He acts. Surprise at God's actions often stems from our limited understanding of His greatness and our shallow experiences of Him. As seen in Isaiah 64:3, when God reveals Himself, it often surpasses our expectations. This surprise can lead to profound gratitude and recognition of God's grace. Furthermore, our expectation levels might not be commensurate with what God is capable of doing in our lives or the lives of others. Recognizing this aspect can spur us to pray earnestly for God's presence, anticipating with faith the powerful moves He can make, just as He did throughout biblical history.

A long, long time ago, in the country
of Wales, there was a preacher of tremendous renown, a man used
of God mightily in his day. He was blind in one eye, and
he was Christmas Christmas Evans was one of those
fellows who attracted a large crowd wherever he went. And one
night, it came time to preach. Mr. Evans was scheduled to preach.
And the crowds had gathered. There were a lot of people around.
And Christmas Evans wasn't to be found. He wasn't in the pulpit
as normal. And so the deacons got together
and decided they'd start looking for him. And one said to another,
you go this way, I'll go that, and we'll see if we can find
the pastor. And so they partied, and then in a little while, met
back together at the back of the church building. And as one
deacon looked at the other and said, did you find the pastor?
He said, yes, I just found him. He's downstairs praying. He said,
well, tell him it's time to preach. Time to preach and time to pray.
It's time to preach. He said, no, I don't want to
disturb him. I heard him crying out to God,
Lord, I've gone into that pulpit alone for the last time. Unless you go with me, unless
your presence goes with me, I will not speak again. He said, I believe
I'll wait. Now I want this evening to talk
to you about the presence of God. That's a big subject. than I have, but we'll scratch
and grab a little bit here, and I've got something that'll be
profitable if God'll be our teacher. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down,
that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when
the melting fire burneth The fire causeth the waters to boil,
to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations
may tremble at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things
which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed
down at thy presence. In these three verses, as Isaiah
makes his supplication to God, praying for God to intervene,
praying for God to make himself known, praying for God to deliver,
save, and bless his people, the one thing he keeps asking for
is thy presence. God give us your presence. Three
times he prayed, remembering and seeking thy presence. He
was praying for revival, but the revival he wanted was the
presence of God. He was praying for deliverance,
but the deliverance he wanted was the presence of God. He was
praying for freedom from bondage and oppression, but the freedom
he wanted was the presence of God. Nothing else really mattered. It is as if he were saying, Lord,
if you'll grant us your presence, everything will be We don't need
anything else. We don't want anything else,
but we've got to have your presence. Now here is a man whose heart
and soul are intense. He intensely longed for the presence
of God for himself and for his people. He is so eager that God
should come down, and at once he cries for God to come down.
Don't hurry, but come quickly, come now. He calls for God to
come with a holy violence. He says, Oh, that thou wouldest
rend the heavens and come down, that thou wouldest come down
that the mountains may flow away at thy presence. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
God, did come down and made a way for God to come down to man,
made a way for man to go up to God. He came down with a holy
violence, for He rent the veil separating God and man. The veil
in the temple was rent from top to bottom. He didn't just push
it aside and lift it up, but He split the thing wide open
so that God over by Him the day of Pentecost came down to man
and poured out His Spirit upon all flesh. And now we approach
God the same way God came down to us through the open door,
Jesus Christ the Lord, by His blood atonement. And when the
Lord God comes down upon, among us now, he comes down among us
in the same way, through the same power, upon the same grounds. We have acceptance with God,
we come to him and he comes to us only through Jesus Christ
the Lord, who has ripped the heavens and come down here. Now
as God's presence was the salvation, the joy, and the glory of his
people in ages past, so his presence is the salvation, joy, and glory
of his people today. I want to show you this evening
four things from these verses concerning the presence of God.
I think the things that we will look at will be obvious to you
as we go along, and I'll spend the bulk of my time with the
first one because it's the most important. I want you to see that the presence
of God is the one thing we must Our only hope is God's presence.
Is not this the essence of Isaiah's prayer? We must have God's presence,
his manifest, glorious presence. Now, we rejoice in the fact that
God is everywhere present as the omniscient God. We rejoice
in that. We rejoice in the fact that his
promise, he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. But there is a sense in which
we properly long for God's presence. We want his known presence. We want his manifest presence.
We want to see him in the pillar of cloud by day and in the pillar
of fire in our nights. We want to hear his voice walking
with us. We want to know God's presence.
I have often heard men preach in sort of They rate people for
saying, Lord, when we pray, Lord, we come into your presence. And
they say, well, where do you think we've been? God's everywhere
present. Well, it's proper. God is everywhere present. But
when we come to worship God, we come into his presence. And
we often recognize we're coming into God's presence, into God's
presence. And if we don't come into his
presence, we're just beating the air. We're doing nothing.
So we want God to come down. Our prayer is, O that thou wouldest
come down. We ask not, Isaiah says, for
a bountiful harvest. We ask not even for the favor
of princes and kings, but O God, we pray for your presence. We
don't ask for an increase of health. We don't ask for anything
for ourselves. We just ask God for your presence. Nothing else matters. Nothing
else matters. I wonder if we've come to this.
Do we yet understand this? The one thing we must have is
God's presence. I don't think we do yet understand
Him. I don't think we do yet realize
it. For I hear very little calling for God's presence. I hear very
little speaking of His presence. I hear very little reverence
of His presence as we attempt to worship Him. But that's the
one thing we've got to have. The church doesn't need more
wealth. She doesn't need finer buildings,
more elaborate services, or even better, more learned, more gifted,
or more eloquent preachers. What we need, oh what I hope
we crave, above everything, is the presence of God. Isaiah, as he prays, calls to
his memory the past. That's a good way to pray. When
you look at what God has done, that's a good argument to use
for what you're wanting to do in the future. And Isaiah remembers
the past with the nation of Israel. And he says, God, as you were
with your people then, come down and be with your people now.
God, as you visited us once, God, visit us again. God, as
you made yourself known once, make yourself known again. Throughout
the history of God's people Israel in the Old Testament, the presence
of God was the one thing that distinguished them and set them
apart from all other people. Isaiah knew that Israel's very
existence as a nation was entirely dependent upon God's presence.
It had been so from the very beginning. It was the presence
of God with Abraham that made him great when he journeyed through
the wilderness, not knowing where he would go, not owning any of
the land on which he walked, but he walked with God, and God's
presence made him great. It was the presence of God with
Isaac that preserved him when he was a stranger and pilgrim
in this earth. It was the presence of God with Jacob that preserved
him from his brother's hatred, and preserved him from his enemies
all around him. It was the presence of God with
Joseph that saved the nation of Israel and the presence of
God with Israel while they were in the land of Egypt for 400
years that preserved and multiplied the nation. The presence of God
with those chosen people, that chosen nation, behind the bloodstained
doors in Goshen is what preserved them when God passed through
the nation of Egypt and with judgment He took the firstborn
of every house. But in the land of Goshen, where
the blood was applied to the door, where God had given His
word and sacrifice was made, every household was saved alive
because God was present with them. He said, I'll be with you.
It was the presence of God that opened their way through the
Red Sea. The presence of God that provided for them all the
while they traveled through the wilderness. And the presence
of God that fetched manna from heaven, gave them honey or gave
them water out of a rock. The presence of God that called
their enemies to treat them with favor as they walked through
their lands. Israel's history is the story of God's Oh, what
God does with men when he's present. That little insignificant band
of ragamuffins, those nobodies, but God was with them and nations
fled before them. Somebody read this morning, I
forgot who it was, somewhere in the services or in private
conversations somewhere, someone read how that the Lord God spoke
to Israel. He said, he said, five will drive
away a hundred. I caused the nations to flee
from before you. And so the Lord God, in his manifest
presence with Israel, made himself known. The symbol of God's presence
was the tabernacle, the altar, the mercy seat, the ark of blessing. Those things that symbolize the
gospel, the sacrifice of Christ, and the grace of God coming to
us by his sacrifice. Now Moses understood that everything,
every blessing, Every conquest, every privilege, every act of
worship, every sacrifice, every service, every devotion to God,
the success of it all, depended upon God's presence. Hold your
hands here in Isaiah and turn back to Exodus 33. Exodus 33.
Hear Moses makes this fourfold prayer to
God. He's about to go up and lead
the children of Israel to take possession of the land. And Moses
knows what lay before him. He knows the commandment before
him. And so he prays in verse 13, Now therefore I pray thee,
if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that
I may know thee. God, if I want to lead these
people, I've got to know your way. I've got to know your way. I've got
to know you. Show me your way. Show me your
way. That I may find grace in thy
sight." And then he says, and consider, consider this, remember
this Lord, this nation, this nation is thy people. They're yours. You bought them. You put your name on them. You
delivered them. You brought them out here. You
brought them to this place. And everybody in the world knows
your name is named on them. Remember, this nation is your
people. And the Lord said, My presence
shall go with thee. I'll give you rest. Now look
at Moses' next prayer. And he said unto him, If thy
presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. All right, God. You said your
presence be with us. Don't let us take a step without
it. Don't let us make a move without
your presence. If your presence go not with
us, we'd rather stay right here than go into that land of Thomas.
We'd rather be right here in this wilderness. If your presence
go not with us, carry us not up hence. And then he asked,
I beseech thee, Show me thy glory. David knew that God's presence
is everything. He knew it. Back here in Psalm
9. Look at this if you want to. Psalm 9 verse 3. This man David,
this man after God's own heart, this mighty king in Israel. He
knew that all safety, security, and peace was in God's presence. In Psalm 9 verse 3. He says,
when mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish
at thy presence. It's not me pursuing them, it's
you pursuing them. It's not me defeating them, it's
you defeating them. Look in chapter 31 of the Psalms,
Psalm 31 verse 20. David speaks of God's presence
as being his pavilion, his safety. He says, thou shalt I be in the
secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep
them secretly in a pavilion from strifer tongues. David's son
Solomon understood it as well. When he prayed for God's blessings
upon the temple, he cried for God's blessings. And he said,
Lord, when your people have seen that they will come here into
this house, into your presence, then hear them when they call
on your name. David cried in his penitential psalm in Psalm
51, Lord, take me not away from thy presence. Don't let me, don't
let me be cast out of your presence. Even in eternity, the whole blessedness
of salvation is God's presence. Then shall I be satisfied when
I awake in thy likeness, for in thy presence are joys forevermore. Everything is God's presence.
Everything. Heaven would be nothing but darkness
without God's presence. He's the light. Heaven would
be nothing but death without God's presence. He's the light.
He is that which is our salvation. His presence. I hope you see
the point I'm trying to make. It's beyond me. I know that.
But the one thing you've got to have is the presence of God. We've got no other hope. I only
hope with salvation is that God will come to us. That's the only
hope we've got. When the Lord God Almighty came
into this earth in the body of a man, when the Lord God came
into this earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, there arose
hope of salvation. God has come to dwell with man.
God, here in our nature, God has now redeemed. God has saved. God has ascended up into glory.
There's hope there that God and man might dwell together, for
God's become a man. We are saved. When God the Holy
Spirit comes to us, carrying in His hands the blood atonement
of Jesus Christ, to sprinkle our consciences and purge them
from dead works. This is exactly what it means
when the Scripture talks about our conscience being sprinkled
with the blood of Christ. God the Holy Spirit comes in
saving grace, and when He gives you faith in Christ, He applies
to your heart the blood of Christ. So that God says to you, your
sins are pardoned. You're forgiven! You're a child
of God. That's the sprinkling of blood.
And our salvation will not be complete until the Lord our God,
our Savior, comes again. No wonder the Spirit and the
Bride say, Come. No wonder John cried, Even so,
come quickly, Lord Jesus. He is coming. We'll be the completion
and the perfection of this great salvation. We are saved by Christ. God, come and give us your presence. Until the Lord's second coming,
until his glorious second advent, the only hope we have as the
Church of God and the people of God in this world is the blessed
presence of God by the Holy Spirit. Without God, the Holy Spirit,
we can do nothing. Without the presence of God,
the Holy Spirit, our prayers are vanity. Just vanity. That's the reason the Apostle
says, pray in the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit. I don't even pretend to know
much about prayer. But prayer is more than saying words. Prayer
is more than asking and receiving. Prayer is more than speaking
God's name and saying certain things to God. Prayer is a heart
crying out to God and getting hold of God. And the only way
you can do that is by the Holy Spirit. Our singing is vain without
Him. That's why Paul said, sing in
the Spirit. Sing in the Spirit. We read our
words and we mouth out our songs. Oh, God teaches to sing. Teaches
to sing. Sing in the Spirit, so that as
you sing, you lift your heart and your voice to God. And the
fact is, you can't do it. I try, don't you? I try, but
I can't do it. The only way on this earth I
can lift my heart and voice to God in song is if God the Holy
Spirit comes. Now then, we can sing. Without
Him, our preaching is vain. I prepare. I prepare diligently to preach
to you. I labor at it. That's my responsibility. But
I can't preach to you. I can't make the Word of God
live into you. I can't bring you a message from
God. That's not within the realm of
my ability. That's not within the realm of
possibility. I can't do it. Oh, but if God
the Holy Spirit will speak by me. That's something else. That's something else. When God the Holy Spirit speaks
by a man, he can cause 3,000 sinners at one time to hear the
word and believe. When God the Holy Spirit speaks
by a man, he can cause kings to tremble at the word of his
grace. When God the Holy Spirit speaks by a man, he calls men
from darkness to light, from death to life, and from damnation
to salvation. Without him, Our ordinances are
nothing but meaningless, empty rituals. We come here every Sunday
evening, and we take the bread and the wine. Somebody says, aren't you afraid
it'll become mundane? No, I know it's mundane most
of the time. God forgive us, but that's just
reality. That's just so. We're most of the time kind of
half-hearted about everything we do. Is that not true with
you? Most of the time we're half-hearted about our songs, about our preaching,
about the reading of the word, about praying, about gathering
with God's saints. Just sort of half-hearted about
it. But we come and take the bread
and the wine. And sometimes, oh, sometimes, we sit here around
the table in his presence. Now we keep the feast. You understand
the difference? His presence makes all the difference
in the world. Without God's presence, our evangelistic efforts, our
labors in ministry, our distributing of tracts, tapes, books, literature,
our witnessing, our missionary efforts, everything is just vanity. Just vanity. Oh, but if God,
the Holy Spirit, attends our labors and uses us, he can take
the jawbone of an ass and slay his thousands. That's no trouble.
If God the Holy Spirit comes upon this man or that one. Now
listen to me. If God the Holy Spirit comes
on this man or that one, if need be, you can pull down the gates
of the city. Samson did, and he was just a
man. just a man. Well, he had long
hair. He was still just a man. The
hair was only the symbol of God's presence. That's all. And that
man, when God came on him, pulled down the tapes of the
sin. God's presence makes all the
difference. The presence of God is essential
to each of us. if we're to be saved. We spend a lot of time talking
to sinners about coming to the Savior. And you listen to me
now. You listen to me. You've got
to come to Him. You've got to come to Him. But
you're not saved by your coming to Him. You're saved by Him coming
to you. The prodigal is not saved when
he says, well, I'm going to my father's house. The prodigal
is saved when his father comes and runs and falls on his neck
and kisses him and receives him. The sheep is saved when the shepherd
comes and finds the sheep and lays it on his shoulders and
carries it home. The dead are made to live when
Christ, who is our life, comes to give life. Our perseverance and preservation
depend entirely upon His presence, the presence of God the Spirit
with us. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit
until the day of redemption. That is, He's present with us
to keep us, to keep us. And now and then, He leads us to ourselves just
enough and just long enough to make us understand in reality
that if he left us, we would perish right now. Right now. The presence of God is everything.
Let us never presume that we can get along without him. And
let us never be presumptuous of his presence. How can I say what I want to?
When you come here to the house of God, believe his promise,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them. But don't dare presume just because
you come to church, you're meeting in his name, and he's in your
midst. Oh no, come in his name. Come
believing Him, seeking His glory, calling upon Him, recognizing
you have no right to approach God but by Christ. Now He's in
your midst. Come with a conscious awareness
of your need of Him, and He meets with you. Come flippantly, presuming
that everything is well and you don't need Him, and you'll be
just like you left, only worse. For you come presuming upon God.
Let this be our prayer. Pastor, let this be your prayer.
Deacons, let this be your prayer. Children of God, let this be
your prayer every time we come to the house of God. Oh, that
thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down,
that the mountains may flow down at thy presence. Secondly, let
me encourage you make this prayer earnestly, constantly, by showing
you that the presence of God creates great surprises. Look
here, in verse 3, When thou didst terrible things which we looked
not for, thou camest down, the mountains flew down at thy presence. Whenever God comes down to they're
always surprised, both by His presence and by His wonders.
Even the most expectant and hopeful believer finds his hopes and
expectations are exceeded a great deal. Read verse four, and learn
the surprising nature of grace. For since the beginning of the
world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee. what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him." But why is it that we're so surprised
by God's presence, so surprised by His works? We hear of God saving someone,
and particularly if there are extenuating circumstances, the
person's been particularly vile or or has been a particular rebel,
or been particularly hard, or we've prayed for a particularly
long time for them, and we seem surprised that God saves them.
I told the men back here in the study, this past week when I
got home, I got a letter from a lady I met out in California. She had flown from Minneapolis
out to the meeting in California. Fifty-one-year-old woman. Been
listening to tapes now for about two years. And she wrote and
said, God has given her life and faith in Christ, and I want
to tell you all about it so you can rejoice and give thanks.
And I thank you for God using you. And she sends that word
to you. And we, when we hear something like that, we're kind
of taken back by it. How come? How come? I'll tell you three things that
cause us to be surprised at God's works and God's wonders. Our greatest conceptions of God
fall infinitely short of his true greatness. Sometimes I think I have high,
high views of God. Don't even come up to the soles
of his feet, as it were. You understand what I'm saying? infinitely greater than we've
ever imagined him to be. And secondly, our experience
of God is very, very slight. Brother Hubert's sitting there
nearly a century he's been living on this earth. That's about as
long as anybody ought to live in this world. That's long enough.
But at the longest Our experience of God is just a breath. That's
all. We talk about knowing God, and
we know him, but we haven't even begun to know him yet. Our experience
of him is just a breath. That's all. And thirdly, our
faith in God is horribly small. such a great God, worthy of absolute
trust. And we, we don't lean on God
like a, we don't even lean on God like a man with a broken
leg leans on a crutch. We haven't begun to learn to
trust Him as we ought. Can you imagine how surprised Brother Adam was? Can you imagine? Adam was in the garden. He had dared to defy God. He had said, God, you don't have
the right now to forbid me to take this fruit. And so he took
the fruit of the tree. And now he's trembling. He's
trembling. He hears God walking in the garden. And they're hiding behind the
bushes with fig leaves on, because they're scared to death of what's
coming. And when God came, when God came,
He did put them out of the garden. He did fulfill His word. And
as He put them out of the garden, He said, now Adam, I'm going
to cause the woman's seed to come. that he's going to redeem
your soul. And this is how he's going to
do it. See these kids? I'm going to sacrifice them because
of your sin. Their blood's going to be shed
for you. I'm going to take their clothes and put them on you. Oh, how surprised Adam must have
been as he walked before God, robed in the garments that God
himself made through a sacrifice. Can you imagine How very, very
surprised old Jacob must have been. Jacob had cried, All these
things are against me! Everything's against me! I'm
an old man now, and I'll do nothing but bitterness, bitterness, bitterness! God has put himself against me!
And then one of his boys came down from Egypt, and he said,
Daddy, Joseph is yet alive. And that all means astonished. Why should he be astonished?
God said he'd take care of his own, but he's astonished. Because,
like us, his conception of God was infinitely less than it ought
to be. His experience of God was just
very, very brief, and his faith in God was very small. As for myself, the most wonderful,
astonishing thing I've ever known or experienced
in this world is God's saving grace. I used to think how great it
would be to be pardoned of all sin. What a marvelous thing it
would be to be filled with joy what a wonderful thing it would
be to live before God knowing that your sin is forgiven without
guilt and peaceful. Oh, my soul was like the troubled
sea. My life was a constant, constant
turmoil. I dreamed of those things, but
I never I never entertained the slightest suspicion that I might
experience those things. Can you imagine how astonished
I was when first I was made to see that Jesus Christ had redeemed
me? When first I heard God the Holy
Spirit speak through the blood and say, Oh, behold what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on us, that we, you might not understand
that, but me, should be called the sons of God. What an astonishing
thing. And then, to find out that I've
not only been made the son of God, a child of God, but heir
of God. and a joint heir with Jesus Christ,
so that in Christ, everything is mine. And I tell you what, I'm still astonished by it. I get flat amazed every time
I think about it. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Though we believe as a matter
of divine revelation, and live in hope of the resurrection,
we will be utterly astonished in that day when our Lord comes
to take us to glory. Queen of Sheba said concerning
Solomon, the half hath not been told. On that day, Meryl, we'll
say the half has never been told. Oh, our highest, highest source
didn't come near this, didn't come near this. The lives of God's saints are
full of surprises because our lives are marked by grace. Other
men get tired of their humdrum lives. They have to read these
silly dime store romance novels, you know. I get on the airplane,
it never ceases to amaze me how men waste their time. I get on
the airplane, watch them, and women about always carry one
of those dime-store novels, one of those romance novels. Men are just as bad. They're
just as bad, carry them all the time. But I understand it. Their
lives are mundane. Their lives are dull. They're
nothing, nothing to excite them. They get married, maybe have
a child or two, Suddenly everything's done. Where are you going to
find any excitement? Oh, let me tell you something. My life is a constant surprise. A constant surprise. Surprise
every day with God's goodness. Surprise every day with God's
mercy. Surprise every day with God's
providence. Every day. I don't guess I'll
ever get tired of life until I get tired of God's grace. God's grace constantly takes
me by surprise. When we start to get into some
trouble, some difficulty, some trial, really, if we had seen
things like we ought, we'd fall down on our faces and give thanks
to God for the trouble. with great gratitude, knowing
that the trial, the trouble we're about to face, is going to open
for us a new, surprising element of regrets. God does things in an astonishing
way. His presence creates surprises,
astonishing things. I read the other day about a
preacher. He was an Anglican Pisciite, that is, he was just
an idolater. He had built a church building
in Wales, and this fellow would go about visiting and preaching,
and everything was just dry, meaningless, nothing. Just the husk of religion, that's
all. The folks began to pray for him.
This fellow's name was Haslam, I guess that's how you pronounce
it, H-A-S-L-A-M, Haslam. One day he had opened the scriptures
over in Matthew, and he began to preach on what thinking of
Christ. And he, in his own words, he
said, as I looked at the scriptures, I began to hear God say, you're
just like the Pharisees. You know better than they are.
And he said, I, I began to see for the first time in my life
who Christ is. I began for the first time to understand my need
of him, and in my soul I began to call on him, even as I opened
the scriptures. And he said it was as though
God came and spoke peace to my heart while I was standing before
men, talking about preaching to them the things of God. He
said the building was full. Nearly 400 people sitting out
in the chapel. And he said, one of the men suddenly stood up
and lifted his hands, and he said, the postman has been saved! Thank God! And folks began to
say, something's happening, something's happening. And he went on to
describe how that God spoke through him to many that day, and twenty
before the day was over, ascribed that day their salvation to God
Almighty. Brother Paul Reniger, who had
been missionary, I went to school with him. He'd been a missionary
in Italy for 25 years or so. He was in the church at Lookout,
and I was preaching one time from Hebrews 10, verses 10 through
14, and he told me a story, a true story. There are not many preaching
Catholic priests, but this fellow was the most popular preacher
among all Catholic priests in Italy, and one day he was serving
Mass and had been reading Hebrews chapter 10. verses 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, every high priest standing daily, offering oftentimes the
same sacrifices that can never take away sin. And he's passing
out the sacrifices. And then he got down to the last
verse, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, for he had
perfected forever them that are sanctified. And God gave the
man faith right then. God gave him faith in Christ
right then, as he read the Word and it was applied to his heart
by the Spirit. Grace is astonishing because the presence of God creates
wonders. Thirdly, if you read these verses
again, you will see that the presence of God dissolves great
difficulties. He talks about mountains, and
fire, and boiling water, and adversaries, and nations. The
mountains of heresies flow down at God's presence. I've seen
God take His Word in circumstances where men despise free grace,
where they despise the gospel of His grace, the gospel of His
Son. But as the Word is preached, suddenly there's a change of
countenance. And men and women certainly, who were heretics
when they walked into the church house, are made to see the glory
of God in the face of Christ, and the mountains of their heresies
flow down before him. The melting fires of conviction
burn, and the boiling waters of holy desire for God arise
when God comes with his word. Yes, nations tremble before the
presence Oh, when God moves, He moves, and men tremble before
Him. Maybe you think, well, Don, we're
living another day. You're talking about another
time. We can't expect God to do the same thing today as He's
done in the past. We shouldn't expect these surprises
today. Oh, my friend, how mistaken you
are. I want you to see in the last
place that we may confidently Expect God to do the same thing
today if he visits us with his presence as he's done in the
past. Read the 65th chapter of Isaiah. Read it and understand that God
is not done working yet. He still has a people whom he
will seek out. He still has the chosen seed
whom he will save. He still has some sinners whom
he will convert and make new creatures in Christ. He still
has a church and a kingdom to build, and build it he will through
the instrumentality of such things as you and I are, sinners saved
by his free grace. You see, God hasn't changed. He's still the same. You reckon God can divide Red
Seas today? Easier than he made the world. God hadn't changed. You reckon
God can overcome political powers, nations, and kingdoms today?
Oh yeah, that's no trouble to God. Well, but preacher, we're
living in different days, and we're not the same kind of people
that lived in those those days of miracles and wonders in the
Old Testament and in the apostolic age. Now we don't live in the
age of miracles. We don't live in the age of wonders.
We don't live in that time when God gave those signs and wonders
to confirm his messengers. But we're the same kind of people.
Very same kind. And if God Almighty should by The arrangement of
providence gathered thousands in one location, even in an idolatrous temple. That's what the temple of Jerusalem
was, wasn't it? It was now just an idolatrous temple. Those who
continued to worship according to Judaism didn't worship God
at all. It was just idolatry. But thousands
were gathered. Thousands were gathered. Thousands
were gathered. And one day God came down and
3,000 sinners heard his voice through a man speaking and believed. Oh yeah, we ought not expect
that now. Ron, I suspect that the reason
we don't see it is because we don't expect it. We don't expect God to do anything
anymore. We don't expect God to move mountains,
but He does. Our enemies and our obstacles
are the same as before. Religion today is no worse than
it was in Peter's day, no worse than it was in Paul's day, no
worse than it was in Noah's day or Abraham's day. God has worked
over enemies in the past, and He'll work over enemies now.
And God's promises are the same. He says, I'll never leave you,
nor forsake you. I'll give you the sure mercies
of David. That's his promise. He says,
those who my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall
not return to be born, but it shall accomplish in the thing
whereto I sent it. It shall prosper in the thing
that I please. All my brothers and sisters,
I want you to realize that there are yet great things to be done
by God through the instrumentality of his church. Let us then cry
unto him, O that thou wouldest ring the heavens and come down,
that the mountains may flow down at thy presence. God, give us
that thing Nothing more do we want. But
without this, we can't go on. God, give us your presence. Amen.

The Presence of God

What does the Bible say about the presence of God?

How do we know God's presence is important for Christians?

Why is the presence of God essential for worship?

How does God's presence impact our lives?

Why do we feel surprised by God's presence?

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The Presence of God

What does the Bible say about the presence of God?

How do we know God's presence is important for Christians?

Why is the presence of God essential for worship?

How does God's presence impact our lives?

Why do we feel surprised by God's presence?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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